It swam within a half-mile from shore on a blustery day in which volunteers also saw gray whales and fin whales. It was the second blue whale sighting within the past week off Point Vicente.

Alisa Shulman-Janiger, who runs the project, said that last year spotters from the promontory saw their first blue whale on March 1, and didn't see another until April 23.

Blue whales, which can reach lengths of about 100 feet and weigh up to 150 tons, generally begin to arrive off Southern California in mid-May, in search of vast blooms of tiny shrimp-like krill.

"It's the presence of food -- unless we actually see them feeding the season hasn't started yet," Schulman-Janiger said. "The one we saw [on Sunday] was just traveling through, and it was very close to shore, which was unusual."

The four blue whales spotted by the Fury crew also were on the move, and it remains to be seen whether they'll will find krill locally or keep moving to the north.

But if blue whales are even looking for krill locally, chances are more will be spotted by boaters admiring the northbound gray whale migration.

Last spring and summer, krill was abundant throughout Southern California waters, and whale-watchers enjoyed perhaps the best-ever season in terms of blue whale sightings.

Blue whales are endangered. There are about 10,000 globally, and about 2,000 in an eastern North Pacific population that utilizes West Coast waters during the spring and summer feeding season.